 Amazing for the price |
| Review Date: April 20, 2005 |
| Reviewer: James Kiker, The Nation of Texas |
I saw this guitar on sale and ordered it on a whim, thinking that if it were no good I could use it for a canoe paddle or give to the kids to play with. I have played bass recreationally for about 17 years, and occasionally strummed a guitar here and there. I currently own a classical guitar I've had for 10 years, and sold my steel-string guitars several years ago. I wanted this to replace the steel stringed ones, and to take camping, when I didn't want to take the fairly nice classical guitar and risk its damage. When I opened the box, I was astounded to find a guitar with a very fine black finish, action almost perfect, and actually nearly in tune. It looks great and sounds very good. The sealed tuners are very smooth and have kept the guitar in tune thusfar. The only flaws I could see were a small bit of glue where the fretboard met the top, just at the sound hole, and a very slight overlap of some of the binding glue onto the body, maybe 0.2mm x 1mm, only noticable when looking for it. Soundwise, it sounds very good, especially considering the cost. It sounds especially good with a pick. The treble side of the guitar is bright and clear. The bass side of it is a little thin, and the low 'E' is fairly dull when fingerpicking. I am hoping that changing the stock strings might help it a little. It's passable, just not great. The frets are very good, and smooth. The ends are nicely rounded. I had expected to need to polish the frets, but at this point will leave them as-is. To sum it up, I think this guitar is a complete steal for the price if you are a beginner looking to start, or if you want a spare guitar to keep at the lakehouse or to take camping. It plays very good and looks even better. Like I said, I had intended to take this one camping, but it's almost too nice for that.
UPDATE: after 2 years I sold the guitar to a friend and bought the fancier and a bit more expensive Rogue Honduran mahogany dreadnought, when it went on sale. The original guitar is still holding up great and my friend is very pleased with it. I've been extremely pleased with the new Rogue. I recently convinced my aunt to buy one for her son-in-law. She got the black one, and they are extremely happy with it. I have recommended them to many people, and still feel that it's an unbeatable bargain. Another friend of mine who is a volleyball coach has bought several of them to sell at fundraising auctions to raise money for his team. I have played mine in 2 weddings (the black one, before obtaining the mahogany one), and it worked great. In fact, I may buy another black one. One thing that I did notice about the mahogany guitar is that the sound is more mellow, which is to be expected. I play with fingers mostly, and the black guitar's brighter sound was more suited for that, so the mahogany guitar, aside from being very pretty, is slightly less suited to my playing style. I still love it, though. I'm actually playing the original strings which are now 2 or 3 years old, and I feel sure that when I finally get around to changing them out it'll make a big difference. I work from a home office, and the guitar is hanging on my wall by my desk. I pick it up and play it almost every day.
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one woman's review
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| Review Date: June 8, 2005 |
| Reviewer: J. Temple, Athens, GA USA |
| I've been playing the violin for 20-plus years and the guitar for at least 10 years, so I guess you could say I'm a fairly accomplished musician. As a musician, I have to say that this guitar is worth much more than its asking price. It looks great and sounds even better, especially considering that it costs so little to buy! I've owned several guitars and this one sounds just as good as any of the other popular brands. It's easy to tune and hold its tune just right. The proportions are nice, too, and fits nicely with my small hands. I'd recommend this to anyone, especially anyone looking to learn and practice. The black color looks great, too. By the way, I ordered this guitar on June 5th and it arrived to me on June 8th -- talk about fast! |
Awesome value
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| Review Date: June 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: CH, |
I shopped around for a "daily player" not wanting to spend much money, when I came across this Rogue RA-100 dreadnought. I read reviews on Musciansfriend, Music123 and harmonycentral: all rating this guitar quite highly, and many of the reviews by playing professionals! That sealed the deal and I bought one, in fact a mandolin as well. I could'nt have been more surprised when they arrived. The fit and finish was very good, the neck was straight, the action was almost perfect (I did make a small adjustment to bring it down to 3/32ths), the black finish was flawless, the binding was well trimmed and the tuning machine heads were of better quality than I expected. The fretting was quite accurate up to the twelveth, then the intonation starts slipping. Overall, I was knocked-out for a nato neck, HPL body, spruce top guitar for under a 100 bucks! The Martin std. med. bronze strings it comes with are OK, but I replaced them with some M1400 Silk and Steel for a more mellow sound, lower string tension and easy playing. The sound is really remarkable for this price point. Good sustain, nice ring on highs, solid bass and mid tones. I recently visited a large chain guitar store and played several high-end guitars only to discouver that the sound was not markedly better than with this sub-100 dollar wonder! At least not seven to ten times better, as reflected in the prices.
I would endorse this guitar for anyone seeking a good instrument at a very reasonable price. I've had the opportunity to hear some really wonderful sounding instruments over time, this is NOT in that class, but it IS one of the best guitar values I've ever encountered.
Buy one, have a shop do a set-up (about $40) with new EXP 10's and you won't be able to put it down or stop smiling!
P.S. Don't loan it to friends as you might have a difficult time getting it back. |
A great guitar !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Review Date: May 18, 2005 |
| Reviewer: RISS, Calexico, Ca. United States |
| A great guitar for the price.Great sound, great quality and a very low price.It easily looks and sounds equal or better than a 300+ dlls guitar.The only thing that looks a little bit cheap(but hey, is cheap!!!) is the rosewood fretboard but again looks like a 300+ dlls guitar and this one is only 50 dlls. |
Great find!
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| Review Date: April 2, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jessica M, San Diego, CA |
| I purchased this guitar for my husband as a birthday gift. He knows quite a bit about guitars and although he prefers electric guitars, he had been wanting an acoustic for a few reasons and for quite some time now. Over the past 6 months, I learned just how particular he was about the guitar's sound, color, and overall feel, etc., which is why I was a bit nervous about getting him a guitar for his birthday although I knew it would be a great gift for him. Anyway, I settled on this guitar and when he opened it he was really surprised and really excited to try it out. He loved it. He loved the black color, he loved the tuning machines, and the Martin strings. The sound quality was excellent, we were both surprised--I was surprised because I knew how much the guitar was; he was surprised with the sound quality because he had never even heard of Rogue guitars before. He told me that he loves how I choose his gifts. He plays the guitar everyday (if he can), and still really enjoys it! Thanks!! |
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